Hope for a 'Grand Bargain'? One Budget Watcher Says Yes

Excerpt

He’s not saying it’ll be easy but at least one budget-watcher is holding out hope for a fiscal “grand bargain” between Democrats and Republicans.

“While things look bleak at the moment, there is still reason to hope that the compelling logic of a grand bargain that deals with appropriations, sequestration and fiscal sustainability will ultimately prevail,” wrote Robert Bixby, executive director of the Concord Coalition, on Tuesday.

Bixby points to meetings between President Barack Obama and a handful of Republican senators, even after the GOP poured cold water on Obama’s plan to use corporate tax reform to pay for jobs programs. And he believes that the looming deadlines over government spending for next year and the U.S. debt ceiling create an opening for a big deal.